


Doppelgänger

by amidtheflowers



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Take it as it is, Tony Stark Lives, everyone lives in the avengers tower, mystical time traveling letters, this is all nonsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:21:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24094267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amidtheflowers/pseuds/amidtheflowers
Summary: What harm was there in opening an envelope?
Comments: 10
Kudos: 73
Collections: Darcyverse May the Fourth Be With You





	Doppelgänger

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AnnieMar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnieMar/gifts).



> Written for the May the Fourth event run by the Darcyverse discord server - I am, er, several days late, but I did it! Hooray!
> 
> This is all kind of hand-wavy nonsense so bear that in mind. Also unbeta'd, sorry!
> 
> Enjoy x

**Doppelgänger**

**-:-**

“Uh, Jane?”

Jane, with her nose buried in her tablet, did not look up at the sound of Darcy’s voice. “What?”

“We’ve got a letter.” Darcy’s voice sounded odd.

That gave Jane pause. It was a rare day when Darcy was unsure of something that wasn’t equation-based. Jane looked up to Darcy’s approaching figure, staring at an envelope in her hand. She was holding it precariously, and a little away from her body.

“What’s wrong with the letter?” Jane asked, curious.

Darcy’s gaze flickered to Jane’s, wryly. “Well for one, it’s shimmering.”

She held out the letter, carefully placing it in front of Jane on the desk. Jane narrowed her eyes at the fine print on the front of the envelope, written in deep, maroon ink.

_For Jane & Darcy_

True to Darcy’s word, the envelope was, inexplicably, shimmering with swirling flecks of gold and pale pink.

“Looks mystical,” Jane observed. “That’s not my division. Maybe you should show it to Tony.”

“Okay,” said Darcy. Her gaze lingered on the envelope. “Except it has both our names on it.”

Jane sighed. “You want me to go with you, don’t you.”

“Jane, you are the smartest woman I know.”

Snorting, Jane pushed away from her desk and stood. “Lead the way.”

Carefully picking up the envelope again, Darcy and Jane left their laboratory and made for the elevator.

**-:-**

Tony stared at the envelope, nonplussed.

“It’s shimmering,” he said.

“We’ve seen stranger things, honestly,” said Darcy, testily. “But yes. Lots of shimmering.”

Tony stared at it some more. “Did you try opening it?”

“And get blasted with whatever magic stuff is in there? No way.”

“It’s why we’re bringing it to you,” said Jane. “Why don’t you open it?”

Tony made a face. “Why am I the liable combustion man?”

Jane and Darcy stared at Tony, who at that moment was standing in his laboratory surrounded by Iron Man prototypes.

“Yeah, I walked into that one.” Tony sighed loudly. “You should get back. I’ll blast this thing with fire and see what happens.”

“Spoken like a true scientist,” Darcy muttered as she and Jane moved to the back end of the laboratory. Fitting his iron suit’s arm over his own, Tony raised his hand and shot a blast at the envelope.

The smoke cleared, bits of flame landing on the ground. The envelope remained intact.

Tony stroked his chin. “I think we might need to summon a doctor.”

**-:-**

Dr. Stephen Strange gave Tony a supremely unimpressed look as he held the shimmering envelope. “You can’t be serious.”

“It’s blast-resistant and it’s self-shimmery, which tells me it’s mystical. That’s _your_ area of expertise, isn’t it?” Tony quirked a brow.

Sighing, Strange read the front of the envelope, then glanced at Jane and Darcy. “I’m assuming this is addressed to you two?”

“Yes,” said Jane.

“Hm.” Strange held out the envelope and did a weird circular hand movement around it. Golden threads of energy sparked into existence, surrounding the envelope until it was levitating on its own. The envelope sparked and sizzled, shaking, then burst away the energy Strange was making and floated limply on the floor.

“Well,” he said finally, “I didn’t detect anything malevolent in it. Whatever it is, it’s meant only for you.”

“Yeah, uh, that’s not good enough,” said Tony shortly.

“What would you suggest? Blast it with fire again?” Strange countered.

“Better science than whatever—hokey magic—”

As they argued, Jane sent Darcy a look and rolled her eyes. Grabbing the letter off the floor, Jane said, “Let’s just get this over with.” She tore the envelope open.

Strange and Tony stopped, gaping at Jane as Darcy said hesitantly, “Are you sure you should be…”

Jane opened the folded letter inside, and a bright flash of light filled the lab, then went out in the blink of an eye.

Tony and Strange stared at the spots where Jane and Darcy had stood. All that was left was the empty envelope.

“So,” Tony said after a moment. “That went very badly.”

Another flash of bright light, and Jane reappeared before them. Except it wasn’t—couldn’t be—Jane. Tony stared curiously at the strange clothing she wore…and the heavily pregnant belly.

Scowling, the Jane-like woman demanded, “ _Where am I?_ ”

**-:-**

Consciousness bled through Darcy’s mind like a slow-moving ripple in water. She shivered, cold, and slowly opened her eyes. A figure was looming over her, blurry at first. Darcy grimaced and rubbed her eyes. “What just…”

“Peace,” a calm voice said, smooth and rich in tone. A warm hand clasped hers and drew it away from her face. “You’re alive.”

A few more blinks and her vision cleared, and Darcy stared up at a man with coppery brown hair and a beard staring down at her with bright, blue eyes. Darcy’s eyes widened and she scuttled away, staggering to her feet. “Who are you?”

The man stood, observing her passively, though not without a bit of curiosity. “My name is Ob-Wan Kenobi. I didn’t get your name.”

Darcy licked her lips and looked at her surroundings. She was on some sort of ship, a small shuttle by the looks of it. “Darcy. Did you do this? Where’s Jane?”

Obi-Wan ticked up a brow. “If by ‘this’ you mean bring you here—no. I can’t take credit for that. How did you get here?”

Darcy was struggling to put together what had happened in the last five minutes. She’d been in Tony’s lab with Jane and Dr. Strange. Jane had picked up the envelope and ripped it open. And then—a bright flash of light. Waking up on the floor with a beardy man in robes staring down at her.

Darcy stared at Obi-Wan. He hadn’t reacted at all at Jane’s name, leading her to believe she wasn’t here. “Great.” Darcy sighed. “Okay, beardo. Tell me where I am and what’s going on, and don’t even _think_ about touching that communicator.”

Obi-Wan’s hand paused where it was hovering near a button on the ship, eyebrows hiked up toward his hairline.

**-:-**

“…admé? Padmé! Oh Force, oh _please_ no…”

Awareness crept along Jane’s consciousness. The first thing she noticed was the smell. It smelled _terrible_ , like sulfur dioxide loose in a small lab. Except this was everywhere, stinging her senses, and some sort of oppressive heat surrounded her.

“Padmé, can you hear me?” Someone was shaking her. Jane shifted uncomfortably and forced her eyes open, if not to get whoever was shaking her to stop. Worried brown eyes stared through hers, desperate and anguished.

“Yes,” said Jane, struggling not to panic as she saw literal _lava_ spurt up behind the stranger. Where was she? And where was Darcy?

Such intense relief filled the stranger’s eyes that Jane almost felt bad for being unconscious. When she was suddenly gripped in a forceful hug, her kindly feelings dissipated.

Jane struggled free and moved to sit (dear _god_ she’d been propped up on his knee), regarding the man warily. “Where am I?”

The stranger blinked at her rapidly, alarm and confusion clear in his gaze. “You’re on Mustafar. You followed me here on your ship. Padmé, what happened to you? Why are you,” he shook his head, his eyes flickering over her, “dressed this way now?”

Jane glanced down at the jeans and tee shirt she was wearing, then back to the stranger. Then at the pooling, spitting lava that surrounded them.

She decided against saying anything and opted to think instead.

Working at Stark Industries. meant getting basic training in randomized chaotic events—something precisely like this. From the lava, she guessed she was not only out of New York, but on an entirely different planet. There were no volcanic systems like this on Earth, let alone space ships like the one sitting behind her.

The man also kept calling her Padmé. He was repeating her name as she was thinking all this, which she ignored again. She was Padmé wherever she was, and the stranger with really nice hair and questionably dark attire on a lava planet seemed to know her. _Really_ know her, and also cared about her a great deal if his mounting concern meant anything.

“Padmé, please say something.”

Jane blinked away her thoughts and turned her attention back on the stranger. “I’m sorry,” she replied, offering a weak smile. “It’s just…I don’t know what’s happening.”

This was not the right thing to say. The stranger seemed to glower suddenly, darkness shadowing him. “Did someone follow you?” he demanded, urgently clasping her shoulders. “Somebody is toying with us and they targeted you.”

Jane didn’t need a degree to realize whoever this was, he was starting to spiral out of control. Take a cue from his actions, Jane wrapped her hands around his wrists. The skin to skin contact seemed to ground him, and he exhaled softly.

“Somebody _is_ toying with us,” Jane affirmed. “If you could just—tell me what happened in the last five minutes. Word for word, if possible.”

The man struggled with this, inexplicably. However, he nodded. “You were holding my face in your hands telling me to leave with you. I said we didn’t need to hide anymore…you said ‘Anakin, please’…”

 _Aha! A name_. His name was Anakin. And Padmé was somehow involved with him. She must look like this woman for Anakin to believe she was Padmé.

“And then a flash of light overcame you…and then suddenly you were on the ground. In different clothes, and…” He stopped dead, staring at her belly.

Jane frowned. “What is it?”

Anakin fixed her with a frightening look. “The baby. Where is our baby?”

**-:-**

Tony had seen a lot in his time so far. Some real Weird Shit. It was odd to him that only now did he encounter a doppelgänger for the first time.

Jane From Another World was as much a spitfire as the Original Jane was. She was also heavily pregnant, which put both Tony and Strange in an uncertain, uncomfortable position of not knowing how to tell someone they very possibly fell into a different dimension due to the opening of a letter.

“Where. Am. I.” The woman repeated, her voice going dangerously low— _really_ low. Diplomatically low. Holy shit, it sounded kind of awesome?

“Well, ma’am. I’m afraid you’re in my laboratory.”

“Laboratory?” She eyed the room skeptically. “Why have you brought me here? Who are you?” Her hands went protectively over her belly.

Tony’s eyes widened. “Oh no, no-no, we definitely aren’t uh, here for that. Strange, do something.”

“I’m busy doing some very intense calculations,” Strange muttered, being completely unhelpful. Typical.

“ _Strange!_ ” Tony snapped, to no response. Strange continued staring vacantly. Tony turned back on Jane-like woman and cleared his throat. “Well, this is Dr. Stephen Strange, and I’m Tony Stark. I’m not entirely sure why you’re here, but this is New York and…I really don’t know what to do now.”

The woman eyed him distrustfully. “This is some trick. An illusion. Perhaps you are a Sith.”

Strange snapped free from his calculations and finally looked at the woman. “Not so. I’ve done a full search of your existence on other planetary systems and found none in our current universe. I _did_ find you, however. Thousands of years in the future, in a galaxy far, far away.” His eyes flickered to her belly. “Congratulations on the twins, by the way, Padmé Nabarrie.”

Padmé’s jaw dropped. “T-twins? How do you know that?”

Strange turned to Tony. “I’ve found Darcy and Jane, as well. I think I can switch them back, though I’m afraid the timeline Padmé hails from has been…disrupted.”

**-:-**

“They took our baby.” Anakin breathed slowly. A thread of fear ran through Jane when she saw his eyes start to bleed yellow and red. “Someone took our _baby_.”

Suddenly he was pulling Jane to her feet and taking her to the ship. His grip was steadfast. Jane dug in her heels but it made no difference; they were clearly leaving the lava planet. “Anakin, if you would just wait and _listen_ —” Jane started, frustrated beyond belief.

“Padmé.” He glanced at her. “You were gone. You came back—dressed in different clothes, no longer—no longer...pregnant…” the words visibly difficult for him to say, and his grip on her arm tightened. “Somebody did this to you. Put their hands on my wife, _violated you_ —I will not stand for it. Let’s go.”

“But—” Jane stumbled as they boarded the ship, “—that’s not what happened! For fuck’s sake, just let me _think_!”

That made Anakin go to a dead stop. He stared at her like she’d grown a second head. “ _Padmé_ ,” he said, dismayed. He’d startled enough for his eyes to return to a brown color.

Noise from the ship pulled their attention, and Darcy was suddenly in front of them. “Oh thank _god_ ,” Darcy breathed, and Jane wriggled free from Anakin and rushed to hug her friend, squeezing tightly.

“Darcy, what the hell is happening,” Jane whispered harshly.

“Don’t panic,” Darcy whispered back, “but I think we’re way in the future surrounded by planets I don’t know and I don’t know how to get back.”

Jane was confused by that. “What do we do? What do we say? This guy _knows_ me. He thinks I’m his wife.”

Darcy squeezed her, quiet for a moment. “The less we say, the better.”

Anakin finally spoke. “Why did you bring one of your handmaidens?”

Jane and Darcy pulled back a bit to look at each other, silently communicating.

Jane turned slowly to Anakin, thinking rapidly. “Why do you think?”

Anakin furrowed his brows, thinking. “For safety. Of course.” He shook his head. “Forgive me.”

Jane nodded, inwardly relieved.

Darcy glanced at Jane. “By the way, someone else totally stowed away on this ship.”

Anakin stiffened at that, and as if one cue a man with a beard and brown robes emerged to the front of the ship.

“ _You_ ,” Anakin hissed. “I should have known. _You_ hurt Padmé.”

The man shook his head, disappointed. “Jumping to conclusions again, my fallen padawan.” He glanced at Jane and Darcy. “They are not who you think.”

They froze. “Jane,” Darcy whispered, but the word hardly got out when a blast of thread golden light surrounded them—and they were standing in front of Tony and Dr. Strange again.

Jane nearly fell against Darcy in relief. “What the hell just happened to us?”

Tony cleared his throat. “Well uh, you did some serious time travel and left a friend here while you were gone.”

Jane’s eyes narrowed. “Let me guess. Was her name Padmé?”

“Got it in one. Strange here managed to switch you both back to your appropriate time and places.”

Strange smiled shortly.

"Where did that envelope come from? And why us?" Darcy asked curiously.

Strange replied, "That is unclear. I'll bring it to my...coworkers for further examination."

Darcy nodded. Tony watched the two women exchange a relieved hug, and couldn’t help but ask, “What was it like, where you were?”

Jane gave Tony weary look. “Dreadful. I don’t know who Padmé is, but she’s married to a real piece of work.”

Darcy frowned. “I wonder what’s going on there now.”

**-:-**

Anakin watched as the flash of light dissipated, and Padmé—worried, very pregnant Padmé—nearly fell over. He grabbed her before she could and pulled her into his arms.

“What is _happening_?” Anakin growled. Padmé was trembling in his arms, looking pale and ill. By the Force, though, she was pregnant again. He cupped his trembling wife’s cheek. “What happened to you?”

Padmé shook her head, looking confused. “I do not know. I was in some sort of…laboratory…there were these two men…I was far from home.”

“But you were here,” said Anakin, sounding even more perplexed. “You were here, and dressed strangely, and you weren’t pregnant anymore…” he shuddered at the thought.

“Ani,” said Padmé slowly, “was this a message from the Force? A warning, of some sort?”

“How so?” Anakin frowned.

Padmé gripped his shoulders tightly. “You saw a vision of me here…not pregnant. Perhaps that was our future—that I survived childbirth. I was—transported—to maybe a hospital of sorts. Force, I don’t know. But don’t you see?” Padmé ran her thumbs across his cheeks. “You don’t need to continue this path. The Force has spoken its will. I _will_ live. And I…I…” Padmé suddenly grimaced in pain, gasping.

“Padmé, what is it?” said Anakin anxiously.

“They’re coming,” Padmé gasped as she clutched her rounded belly. “The babies are coming.”

_“Babies?”_

Obi-Wan took the opportunity to clear his throat and step forward. “We must take her to a medical facility, Anakin.”

Anakin’s attention snapped to Obi-Wan, and darkness and hatred filled him once again. “You will stay away from her.”

Fingers wrapped tightly around his arm, nails digging into his skin. “Ani, I am in _labor_ ,” Padmé said through her teeth. “Can’t this _wait?_ ”

**-:-**

Dr. Strange cleared his throat, drawing the attention of Tony, Darcy, and Jane. “Nothing you would want to be part of, believe me.”


End file.
